Wayne County's Population Loss May Be Oakland's Gain: Census

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DETROIT, MI – The news was a little better for Wayne County than in previous years when the U.S. Census Bureau released figures on population changes in the nation’s counties Thursday, but not much.

Some 6,673 Wayne County residents moved away during the year that ended July 1, 2015, but for the first time in eight years, the county didn’t have the highest exodus of residents in the country. The 0.4 percent drop left the county, home of Detroit, with 1.76 million residents.

Oakland County may have gained some of those residents. The county’s population increased 0.2 percent to 1,242,304 residents during the period, a gain of 2,407 people.

Last year, 15,446 people migrated out of Wayne County. The most recent high occurred from 2010 to 2011, when 24,122 people left.

In Michigan, Ottawa County, near Grand Rapids, grew 1.2 percent and gained 3,357 residents during the period for a population of 279,955.

Elsewhere in Metro Detroit during the period:

• Macomb County’s population increased 0.4 percent to 864,840 residents, a gain of 3,204 people.
• Livingston County’s population increased 0.9 percent to 187,316, a gain of 1,613 people.
• Genesee County’s population decreased 0.5 percent to 410,849, a loss of 2,085 people.
• Washtenaw County’s population increased 0.5 percent to 358,880, a gain of 1,851 people.

Wayne County and Cook County, IL, were among only a handful of the nation’s 45 counties with 1 million or more residents that lost popuLation last year. The others were Cuyahoga County, OH; Allegheny County, PA; and Suffolk County, NY.

» Read more about population trends in the nation’s counties.